AGB And Nielsen Join To Form Global Ratings System
Rival television audience measurement companies, AGB Group and Nielsen Media Research, have joined forces to form a global joint venture that could dominate the market.
The new company, which will operate under the brand name AGB Nielsen Media Research, will be half owned by Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP and half owned by Nielsen Media Research, which is part of the Dutch media information group VNU.
AGB Nielsen Media Research will employ around 1,800 staff and will offer television ratings in thirty countries around the world including the UK and Ireland. The board of directors will contain representatives from both companies, including Eric Salama, chief executive of Kantar, the WPP division that owns AGB.
Commenting on the initiative, Salama told reporters that better measurement technology was crucial in tackling the challenges posed by personal video recorders, such as Sky Plus and TiVo, which allow viewers to skip through the commercial breaks when watching recorded programmes.
He claimed that AGB technology could accurately measure the ratings in homes that used personal video recorders and could even tell if viewers watched the commercial breaks or not. Earlier this year it was revealed that more than three-quarters of Sky Plus viewers skip through the adverts when watching recorded programmes (see Majority Of Sky Plus Viewers Skip Through Commercials).
As part of the joint venture, AGB company ATR UK will maintain its five year television ratings contract with BARB, which recently announced that its viewing panel is now reporting at full strength following a shaky start just after its launch at the beginning of 2002 (see BARB Controversy Continues).
Nielsen Media Research: 01344 469 200 www.nielsenmedia.co.uk WPP: 020 7408 2204 www.wpp.com
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